The invention relates to a gear rack hoist for lifting, lowering and/or holding containers, cabins, shelters, temporary construction etc., comprising corner fittings that operate in concert with the conical engaging parts of two beams spaced in the hoist shaft and associated with the upper and lower corner fittings, the beam associated with the lower one being provided with two bars of different lengths, one of said bars being connected to the hoist shaft, the other to the conical engaging part, both in articulating manner by means of bolts, the total length of these two bars not exceeding significantly or at all the height of the hoist shaft.
German Pat. No. 2,540,400 discloses this type of gear hoist. Such a hoist offers among others the advantage that upon complete insertion of the two bars of the lower beam, these bars are simply folded against the hoist shaft where they can be so fixed, for instance, by means of a clamping bail so that they form one integral unit with the hoist shaft for moving and storage. Whether there are several connecting points at the hoist shaft for the longer bar of the lower beam which assumes an oblique position with respect to said hoist shaft when in its operational position, where said connecting points are some distance apart from each other, (corresponding to the disclosure of German Pat. No. 2,540,400), or whether there is only one such connecting point, such a gear rack hoist shaft suffers from the risk that the bar of the lower beam slanting upward against the hoist shaft easily tips forward if the securing pin is removed, in the course of erection or dismantling, so that the operators might be injured. The significance of this danger can be properly gauged when considering that such gear hoists as a rule are several meters high.